2004 Chevrolet 3500 Crew Cab Dualie 2004 Chevy Silverado 3500

2004 Chevrolet 3500 Crew Cab Dualie - Big Red

This New Dog Can Teach The Old Dogs A Few Tricks

From the August, 2009 issue of 8-Lug

Author: Dan Ward, Mike Alexander

Photography: Dan Ward, Mike Alexander

Here at 8-Lug,we have the pleasure of serving up a variety of the biggest and baddest trucks around, assuming they feature a diesel engine and, well, simply put, eight-lugs. Even though the majority of our cover and feature trucks are lifted cruisers, every now and then we come across a slammed truck that literally stops us in our tracks! Casey Ridinger is the lucky owner of one such truck. Casey's bright-red '04 Chevy 3500 Crew Cab dualie can't help but be noticed everywhere it goes, and right away we knew we had to get it in front of our cameras and be the first to bring it to our readers.

It all started when Casey was on the hunt for a nice daily driver/hauler to tow his current show-truck build around the show circuit. When he came across this dualie it had seen better days and was going to take some work to make her roadworthy again. Good thing Casey has a few good buddies he knew could get the job done right. It started off as a simple build to get the Chev back on the road as his tow pig, but as you can see from the pictures, it turned into a little more than that. The original framerails were built by Mike McGee to body drop Big Red on 24-inch dualie wheels while retaining the stock floor. Big John Adkins airbagged the front using Ekstensive Metalworks' control arms and built a bridge capable of towing anything Casey could throw at it. When Casey brought the dualie to Don Bracken and Jamey Jordan from Innovative Customs, he decided to put his show truck on hold and build this dualie to not only tow his toys, but to also be a show-stopper itself and tow in style. Don and Jamey had to redo quite a bit to ensure that a bagged and body-dropped dualie would be just as reliable a tow vehicle as anything out there. So they got to work and began to build Casey the tow truck he had dreamed of.

2004 Chevrolet 3500 Crew Cab Dualie Hhr Chrome Roof Rack

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Together, Don and Jamey spent five long months, day and night, feverishly working around the clock to make sure Big Red would be ready to drive to Tex Mex (a huge show in Texas with more than 2,500 vehicles in attendance). Jamey began with the front suspension and rebagged it using RE-8 Slam Bags. Jamey also built custom supports behind the front bumper, since the factory sheetmetal tubs had to be completely cut out for the huge 24-inch Diesel Wheels and 305/35ZR24 Toyo Proxes STII tires. Jamey "Handmade" Jordan handbuilt new fenderwells out of aluminum to add a little style and personality under the hood. For the rear, they had to narrow the rearend 12 inches and build a custom fuel cell to make room for the new suspension. They also had to use the triple-bellow airbags to help support the weight of anything Casey would want to haul. The four-link, frame, crossmembers, and entire suspension were built to endure the harsh conditions that towing heavy loads would deliver.

With the suspension and framework dialed, it was time to move to the engine and get it back up and running. This was no easy task, considering all the wiring these things take to run. More than 250 wires had to be run, so custom runners were built under the carpet to protect everything and level out the floor. To up the performance and help this beast tow like all good diesels should, an Edge Performance programmer was installed, and the turbo mouth was machined by Sam Smith. To free up a few more ponies, a pair of 12-inch Flex-A-Lite fans was installed. The biggest task was keeping this 6.6L Duramax under the stock hood. Jamey built a custom intake to clear the hood and relocated the battery so it mounts to the frame. Once the truck was roadworthy and laid flat to the floor, it was time to make Big Red showworthy.